Tag Archives: Gay Fish Co

October is supposed to be a month for prime Lowcountry seafood but this month, Hurricane Matthew had other plans. The Category 2 storm put local seafood production on hold. The storm hit Beaufort County just a week after the start of the oyster season and in the middle of shrimp season. But not to worry. Most local fishermen stayed with their vessels through the storm and — with the resilience the trade has always required — are making their way to recovery. “A chainsaw becomes necessary equipment on a shrimp boat now,” Reeves said. “Anything you can imagine, we see: pilings, lawn chairs, refrigerators. Cutting through can be difficult and very costly.” The long-term impact on local shrimp populations is also still not clear, local shrimpers say. Read the story here 14:01

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here